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Tasty Tuesday: BBQ Turkey Meatballs

I almost feel ridiculous sharing this recipe today because it’s just so easy. I found the original recipe on Pinterest when I was searching for things to do with some ground turkey we had on hand. I love meatballs, so when I saw this, I knew I had to make it.

I didn’t change the original recipe that much. To be honest, there really wasn’t much that needed to be tweaked. Meatballs don’t require a ton of ingredients to be delicious (though that’s not to say I don’t appreciate unique flavors in a meatball!). It’s a great, simple dish that could easily be served as an appetizer or as a main dish. (I served it for dinner over rice with a side of mixed vegetables.)

With just a few simple ingredients, these turkey meatballs come together quickly and taste amazing!

BBQ Turkey Meatballs

I added even more BBQ sauce after adding the meatballs to some rice. Delicious!

Ingredient List:

1-1 1/2 lbs ground turkey

1/2 cup white onion, diced into fairly small pieces

1 egg

1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs, divided

1 1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

3/4 cup BBQ sauce, divided

2 tbsp olive oil

This is the BBQ sauce I used in this recipe. It was smoky with a hint of sweetness and a bit of a kick.

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, add all ingredients (using only half of the Panko breadcrumbs at this point) except the olive oil and BBQ sauce. Mix everything together using your hands.

Slowly add in 3-4 tbsp of BBQ sauce, combining with the meat mixture using your hands. Because the BBQ sauce will make the mixture pretty moist, you’ll want to add in the remaining Panko breadcrumbs at this point, mixing everything together thoroughly.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.

Shape the turkey mixture into meatballs, dropping them in the skillet in batches. (I’m going to be really honest here … None of my meatballs were uniform in shape and size. I kind of suck at that. My recommendation is to simply decide how many meatballs you’ll need and how large you’d like them to be, and eyeball it from there. I ended up with 17 meatballs, many of which were pretty large. The original recipe stated it makes about 36 meatballs. Obviously that’s a huge difference!)

After adding the meatballs to the skillet, roll them around a bit to brown them on all sides. Once each batch of meatballs is browned, remove to a baking sheet (I lined mine with aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray for easier cleanup) and repeat until all meatballs are browned.

Spoon the remaining BBQ sauce over the meatballs and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they are cooked through. (I cooked mine for 18 minutes.)

As I said earlier, we served these meatballs as a main dish over rice with extra BBQ sauce and a side of mixed vegetables.